“Big Week” 1944

Operation Argument and the breaking of the Jagdwaffe

In the years before World War II, it was believed that strategic bombing would win wars, but none foresaw the devastation that German radar-directed interceptors would inflict on large bomber formations.

With the increasingly urgent need to eliminate German fighter-aircraft prior to D-Day, a concerted two-phase effort was launched, codenamed 'Operation Argument'. Targeting aircraft factories with hundreds of heavy bombers escorted by the new long-range P-51 Mustang, the operation, known to history as the 'Big Week' campaign, was designed to destroy aircraft production on the ground, and force the Luftwaffe into combat to defend these vital facilities – when it was intended that the new escort fighters would take their toll on the German interceptors.

Using specially commissioned artwork and maps, this is a detailed and fascinating analysis of history's first-ever successful offensive counter-air (OCA) campaign.